All good things must come to an end. But it was a shock to swap the heat and euphoria of Melbourne's successful 18th
Commonwealth Games in March 2006 for a cold, dreich Scotland reeling from a public sector strike and smoking ban. Thankfully, the airport bus was still running and we had lots to celebrate with
Scotland's highest-ever Commonwealth Games medal haul.

The guests were greeted by piper Andrew Marshall, and entertained by the Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club, playing traditional Scottish fiddle music.

David Wishart's whisky tasting at the National Gallery of Victoria was generally reckoned a great success. Our whisky producers responded magnificently, with 40 different malt whiskies to savour,
and around 100 guests gave up an evening of athletics finals at the MCG to attend our "Glasgow 2014" Reception. The Lord Provost gave a speech of welcome, and I followed with a short
presentation in the Great Hall and a fine malt whisky tasting lasting for over an hour. The guests were free to try all of the malts, and I spent much of the evening signing books – in all, 150 copies of my
new edition of "Whisky Classified" were given away.

David Wishart presents the single malts of Scotland, with his book "Whisky Classified: Choosing Single Malts by Flavour", second edition, March 2006.

After his presentation, David signed copies of his book. Here he signs for Dr Gerard Vaughan, CEO and Director of the National Gallery of Victoria.

The guests included members of the Commonwealth Games Federation, who decide which city is to host the 20th Games in 2014; HRH Sultan Ahmad Shah of Malaysia; the High Commissioner;
Director of the National Gallery; and representatives of the Scotch whisky industry in Australia.